Not as it seems
by nowyouseemenowyoudont
Summary: My response to Sugabelly's challenge! Shippo discovers that everything is not as it seemed to his young mind...


Not as it seems.

The fox kit sighed, forgotten again in amongst the so called 'adults' fighting. Apparently, Kagome wanted Rin and Sesshoumaru to join the group of shard hunters in their fatigue inducing travels and of course the resident volcano-impersonating Hanyou was having none of it.

Shippo couldn't really see the problem with the demon lord and his ward joining the group. Maybe Sesshoumaru's toad thing got a little annoying with the overzealous fawning but it was no cause for alarm. Rin's charming gap toothed smiles and penchant for blossoms overcame the strange scent of the toad demon and Sesshoumaru was so silent he would be a welcome break from Inuyasha and his constant shouting.

He sighed as he dug through Kagome's monstrosity of a bag in search of his latest sugary infatuation; he could quite clearly hear the sound of Hanyou skull impacting with mossy ground and knew that, at least for now, his momma had won the argument. She was about as victorious as one could be when knocking out a red-clad dog demon with a beaded necklace and Shippo knew without even looking that she would be red faced.

"Baka-yasha is asleep huh?" Shippo asked Kirara who mewed in bored agreement

"Shippo-chan what are you doing with my bag?" Kagome asked with a raised brow as she came across the upside down kit whom was seemingly being eaten by the bag. Her ebony hair was dishevelled from running her hands through it in her anger.

"I was trying to find some of that candy" Shippo mused and added as an afterthought "and maybe some of those party things you brought back; maybe Rin-chan would like them"

She ruffled the kit's hair "Sounds good to me," she glanced back at the Hanyou crater and giggled slightly "come on let's try and get back to the village before grumpy wakes up from his nap"

They were startled when a blushing Sango appeared next to them.

"You okay?" Kagome asked carefully

"Monk" was her terse reply and they glanced to the tree trunk where their monk had been meditating and was now counting Hiraikotsu induced birdies.

"Nice" Kagome commented

"They never learn" Shippo chipped in and the two females and the fire cat nodded in wry agreement.

The group, as Shippo had known it would, had bent to Kagome's will and was now dealing with the addition of an annoying Kappa, a friendly enough dragon, a ray of sunshine disguised as a little girl and a statue pretending to be a demon lord.

Sesshoumaru, for his part, had neither instigated an argument nor baited the Hanyou since he had arrived, seemingly preferring to sit under a tree basking in the sunshine and listening as his ward and the kit tried to torture Jaken. Their favourite new game.

Inuyasha was sulking, Kagome was fuming, Miroku was rubbing his poor, abused face and Sango was embarrassed. All was right in the world.

Unfortunately for the intrepid group of shard hunters, Inuyasha's sulking was reaching epic proportions; he had even stopped nagging them to leave the village. This was worse than usual and the group's apparent comfort around a certain deadly demon lord was not helping soothe his ire.

The children, as children were wont to do, conspired to put a plan into action. Operation 'Stop Baka Sulking' was underway. Unbeknownst to everyone who wasn't a dragon, a cat demon or an exceptionally observant demon lord of course.

Shippo had been blowing up balloons all day in the privacy of the meadow just behind Kaede's hut. Red in the face he decided he was glad that he was a demon. He was sure a human would have died from doing that much puffing. Rin was doing what Rin did best and decorating the entire meadow with flowers.

They covered every log and every scrap of wood that was in reaching distance, those that were obscured from Rin's grasp were dutifully decorated with the assistance of Kirara and Ah-Un.

Shippo had been having fun attaching the balloons in groups of three to each of the trees lining the meadow with the stuff Kagome called 'sticky tape'. In fact he and Rin had a made a Jaken 'sticky tape' monster by wrapping the toad demon from head to toe in the stuff. Someone would take pity on him and cut him out... eventually.

Shippo delved into the bag one last time in search of the last balloon that would complete his master piece; unfortunately for the young kit the bag was empty of balloons. Frantically the kit toppled himself into the bag and began to sniff out that same scent as if he were a blood hound.

"For the last time Inuyasha Sesshoumaru isn't trying to steal anything of yours, won't you just come down from the tree and see the surprise that Rin and Shippo prepared?" Kagome knew that her tone was plaintive but she didn't care, she was fed up of the sulky Hanyou. She wanted the brash callous and bad-mouthed Hanyou back, and that was saying something.

The Hanyou's ears twitched in her direction and she took this as approval to continue.

"I'm sorry Inuyasha" she said humbly "I didn't mean to undermine you or anything but we really do need all the help we can get... besides it was either Sesshoumaru or Kouga"

At that the Hanyou growled low in his throat.

"I chose the lesser of two evils" she explained

"Hmph" the Hanyou retorted jumped from the tree and landing lithely just in front of the Miko "looks like ya did something clever for once"

She mock punched him in the shoulder and he grinned crookedly at her, one fang protruding over his bottom lip.

"Let's go to the party" she sang skipping off in the direction of the meadow and towing the grumpy Hanyou behind her.

The meadow truly was a sight to behold, as it was now filled with fireflies in the half light of the setting sun as everything took on a plum coloured glow. The flowers were everywhere; even on Sesshoumaru who sat, once again, under a tree with his eyes closed and a serene expression on his face.

"You guys this is so beautiful!" Kagome gushed kissing Rin on the top of her head and walking over to Shippo.

When she reached him however her look of happiness faded into a look of concern. "Shippo-chan are you okay?"

The normally cheerful kit was looking decidedly morose and it didn't suit the usually cheerful child. He peeked up at her with tears forming in the corners of his eyes.

"It was nearly perfect" he sobbed "but the last balloon wouldn't work" he then held out something that looked suspiciously like... no way.

Kagome froze in shock; her mind shut down for a brief interlude as she tried to remember why he even had one to begin with. Ah, yes, that was right, she had given Shippo free reign of her bag, this was the last time she was ever going to do that.

"That is because it is not a balloon" Sesshoumaru intoned, his eyes were still closed and he had not moved from his spot beneath the tree. Kagome tensed when she heard the demon lord speak, irrational dread shooting through her.

"Then what is it?" Inuyasha demanded glaring at his half-brother

"A Condom" he replied serenely, still with his eyes closed

"What does that mean?" Miroku asked, perplexed

"It means that the Miko and I will not be meeting again until she returns home for more" he cracked one eye open and surveyed the Miko lazily. She was bright red, with surprised anger or embarrassment, it was unclear. Sesshoumaru smirked and stood to leave the clearing. "Return home soon Miko" there was a pause "This Sesshoumaru would prefer not to wait"

The words floated back to a mortified Kagome, who, overwhelmed dropped to her bottom due to the inability of her shaky legs.

_Perverted dog demon_.

A/N: I don't own Inuyasha! Happy Holidays to all of you!


End file.
